What You Need to Know About DACA: Obama's Executive Order on Immigration

DACA is an Executive Order signed by President Obama that will prevent the deportation of certain undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, and who broke no laws. DACA will allow them to work legally and attend college. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Most eligible applicants were brought here by their parents. Many grew up in the US, and know no other home. Eligible applicants had to meet a set of criteria, including very specific ages and dates, and have no criminal history.

DACA is not amnesty. It is not a green card. It is not US citizenship, or even a path to US citizenship. It is a temporary opportunity for a very specific group of teenagers and young adults to work and study without fear of deportation.

Yes. When President Obama signed the first DACA, it only benefited people who were brought here as children, but were between the ages of 15-31 years old. Then President Obama heard from many people who were older than 31. One of those people was Jose Antonio Vargas, (seen above), who won the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism. After winning the Pulitzer, Vargas told the whole world that he was really an undocumented immigrant, who had been in the US since he was a child. But he didn't benefit from the first DACA because he was older than 31. The President then issued a second DACA Executive Order, eliminating the age requirements. At the same time, he issued a new Executive Order, known as DAPA.

DAPA is an Executive Order designed to help keep families together. Many undocumented immigrants have children who are US citizens. If the parents get deported, sometimes the children are left behind, alone in the US. That is what happened to Orange is the New Black star Diane Guerrero, whose parents were deported when she was 14, leaving her alone in NJ. Here is a story about a family who will be impacted by DAPA. http://fusion.net/story/291636/supreme-court-dapa-decision/

There were an unprecedented number of legal challenges to the second round of Executive Orders. Most of them were frivolous, and were thrown out immediately. One case from Texas, which claimed that the Federal Government was placing undue burden on the state by requiring them to issue drivers' licenses to DACA and DAPA recipients resulted in a temporary injunction from the lower courts. This is the most important immigration case before the Supreme Court in our lifetime.